Daring Bakers June – Pavlova

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard.

I was pretty excited to see the word “pavlova” in the Daring Bakers recipe this month. It’s been years since I have made a pavlova and, in fact, I have never made one from scratch (the shame!) – I always used Pavlova Magic:

According to Wikipedia, Pavlova is a meringue-based dessert named after the Russian ballet dancer Anna pavlova Colloquially referred to as “pav”, it is a cake similar to meringue with a crispy crust and soft, light inner. The dessert is believed to have been created to honour the dancer during or after one of her tours to Australia and New Zealand in the 1920s. Where it was created and the nationality of its creator has been a source of argument between the two nations for many years, but research indicates New Zealand as the source.

The “soft, light inner” part is the sticking point. Much like macarons, a pav is tricky to get just right. You don’t want it to be a total marshmallow but you don’t want it to be a rock hard meringue. Upon further inspection of the recipe, I saw it was more like a hard meringue and since I don’t like them, I took it upon myself to make an Australian pavlova – crispy on the outside, marshmallowey on the inside.

I had heard from Jamie at Life’s a Feast that Nigella does a good chocolate pav so this recipe comes from Nigella.com. I chose to make individual portions as I had company coming and read up as to how long these should cook for. I had them in the oven for around 40 minutes and, as I had read to, left them there until completely cook. I reckon they could have done with just 30 minutes as, whilst they were a bit marshmallowey, they could have been even more so. Next time I will try less time at heat. I chose to serve it with fresh rasberrry and blueberry coulis atop a dollop of coeur à la crème. It was messy but delicious (the pav top is supposed to give way and crack when you eat it so it’s not necessarily going to be the prettiest dessert but it will be tasty!

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4 and line a baking tray with baking parchment.

Beat the egg whites until satiny peaks form, and then beat in the sugar a spoonful at a time until the meringue is stiff and shiny. Sprinkle over the cocoa and vinegar, and the chopped chocolate. Then gently fold everything until the cocoa is thoroughly mixed in. Mound on to a baking sheet in a fat circle approximately 23cm in diameter, smoothing the sides and top. Place in the oven, then immediately turn the temperature down to 150°C/gas mark 2 and cook for about one to one and a quarter hours. When it’s ready it should look crisp around the edges and on the sides and be dry on top, but when you prod the centre you should feel the promise of squidginess beneath your fingers. Turn off the oven and open the door slightly, and let the chocolate meringue disc cool completely.

Whip 1 1/2 cups cream until stiff, then mix into cream cheese mix. Blend until smooth. You can either set these in heart shaped molds in damp cheesecloth and turn out onto a bed of raspberry coulis, or serve in ramekins. Or if you are my sister, you eat it straight from the big bowl!

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I will definitely be trying these again in an attempt to get them right and proper like a good Aussie pav!

69 Responses to Daring Bakers June – Pavlova

Ah, lovely and delicious and so summery light! I also changed my pavlova to a lighter one flavoring it with pistachios. I have 5 or 6 recipes open all over my kitchen table until I had concocted the perfect recipe. I loved them. But next time I am doing like you and making a more summery topping too. Your dessert is perfect!

WOW that is one marvellous looking pav – I haven’t seen pavlova magic for years I never have made pav that way LOL LOL. I just love the look of the topping and the fruit. Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.

Your homemade pavlova turned out great. I have been meaning to make that chocolate Nigella one forever. It’s in this month’s issue of TFN magazine. It’s been very humid here which can screw up egg whites so nicely done!

Oh they are gorgeous Mardi. I know what you mean when you say ‘ kind of usual’ to change a recipe. I’m like that a lot too, but this time was really short on time. Must try Nigella’s recipe one day… does look good!

I love Pavlovas! In the earlier years of our marriage, we used to host a Christmas Day dinner party for MJ’s parents & friends who had nowhere to be for the holiday. Pavlova (with or without cocoa powder), loaded up with strawberries & kiwi slices was my FIL’s favorite, since he could eat as much as he wanted (fat-free & only 100 cals. a piece) and feel like he got a decadent holiday dessert. Love this version!

I am with you, I don’t enjoy pavlovas that are overly hard (more like a shell), and the australian ones are heavenly. I had my first one in Sydney and I fell in love! Yours looks delicious, and a perfect summer dessert. 🙂

Ah…now this is a meringue dessert I could love. I love making desserts with meringue and unlike some other whipped egg white treats we know only too well…have success with them! Looks beautiful too…great picture.

Oh, I love making Palovas. So light, airy and sexy! That was my fall back on dessert last summer. Bummed that I missed this challenge. I would try to make one in France but our apartment does not have an oven. Maybe I should buy a meringue and top with fruit – would that be cheating?

I haven’t posted my DB yet as I did it in a hurry over the weekend but like you suspected, I have ended up with hard biscuit meringues instead of gooey ones, I’m just too much of a chicken to take them out the oven early!

Your version looks totally luscious with all this fruit! Nigella is one of my heros although sometimes I find her cake recipes a bit inaccurate, it’s good to hear her pavlova is a reliable one and I will look at that next time.

Funny you say about using Australian pavlova – it was on Neighbours in about 1987 when I first heard of this dessert when Kylie Minogue i.e. Charlene was making one!

Pavlova Magic—who knew?! I actually had an incredible pavlova in, of all places, China. It was so light and incredible…vowed to make it upon returning home. And here I am catching up on your blog and voila…awesome! Thanks, Mardi.